But saying I can't use my software for what you consider Evil
That is a complete and utter strawman. No-one but you can say how your code can be used. If I were to assume that you were an intelligent person I would guess that you meant:
But saying I can't use a combination of your software and my software, for what you consider Evil
But that is a completely different kettle of fish.
You can do anything you like with the code you write, but if you want to use any code written by someone else you have to abide by their rules. It really is simple and it was summed up years ago (paraphrasing):
Your freedom to do as you like stops at the tip of my nose
I can't resist replying to this (helped by the fact that I'm a little drunk), but you're right, I think this is the second post I've ever made, but like you I seem to frequently get mod points (probably once every fortnight or so).
I've been a lurker here for a fair while and I only decided to register to use the new AJAX comment system (which I think is really nice, thanks Slashdot gods). I think mod points simply go to people who don't have a lot of negative karma, so lurkers are always going to be close to the top of the list:-)
I can understand that the GPL could be hard for a lawyer who had never seen it before to grok. But what sort of second rate software development company do you need to be not to have at least one developer who knows the requirements of the most popular Free Software license. I mean did these people think you could just paste a big chunk of someone else's code into your project with no consequences? If so they should try it with some Microsoft or Apple code sometime and see what happens.
Slashdot Mirror
You say
That is a complete and utter strawman. No-one but you can say how your code can be used. If I were to assume that you were an intelligent person I would guess that you meant:But saying I can't use a combination of your software and my software, for what you consider Evil
But that is a completely different kettle of fish.
You can do anything you like with the code you write, but if you want to use any code written by someone else you have to abide by their rules. It really is simple and it was summed up years ago (paraphrasing):
Your freedom to do as you like stops at the tip of my nose
I've been a lurker here for a fair while and I only decided to register to use the new AJAX comment system (which I think is really nice, thanks Slashdot gods). I think mod points simply go to people who don't have a lot of negative karma, so lurkers are always going to be close to the top of the list :-)
I can understand that the GPL could be hard for a lawyer who had never seen it before to grok. But what sort of second rate software development company do you need to be not to have at least one developer who knows the requirements of the most popular Free Software license. I mean did these people think you could just paste a big chunk of someone else's code into your project with no consequences? If so they should try it with some Microsoft or Apple code sometime and see what happens.